Octopus gets last laugh as it suffocates unfortunate dolphin that tried to swallow it whole
A foolhardy dolphin tried to chow down on a giant octopus... with disastrous results
DOLPHINS might be considered highly intelligent, but this sea creature came an almighty cropper when he swallowed a 2.1 kg octopus whole.
The bottlenose's dinner proved fatal when its tentacles blocked its airways, a post mortem found.
The Indo-Pacific mammal - known as Gilligan to marine biologists in the area - was found dead on a beach near Perth in Australia in 2015.
A harrowing picture shows octopus arms hanging out of the side of its mouth.
But scientists have only released details of how it died in a scientific journal this week.
A group of bottlenose dolphins play in the sea
In a grim retelling of its final moments, scientists found one tentacle stretching down the dolphin’s oesophagus, and the other seven stuck in the back of its throat.
Tentacle suckers were gripping the throat walls and had blocked off Gilligan's airway, causing the dolphin to suffocate.
They belonged to a Maori Octopus - the largest found in Australia.
Dolphins usually eat fish, but if they do plump for something exotic like the Maori, they are known to break them up into smaller pieces using a "shake and toss" method.
The relationship isn't always so brutal.
One was spotted hitchhiking on a dolphin's back in one of the most bizarre joyriding snaps we've ever seen.
This isn't the first ever instance of a dolphin choking on its dinner, according to the study published in Marine Mammal Science.
Others have got themselves into similarly tricky situations.
According to New Scientist, in 2012 a bottlenose dolphin in Greece was found with an octopus clasped to its genitals.
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